Syracuse, N.Y. — He can talk the military talk, all right. And Brian T. Beckno, a lieutenant colonel out of Philadelphia, did just that the other night up in Fort Drum as he stood along a football field's sideline in a cold drizzle and an unfriendly wind, describing his recent duties in Afghanistan.

"Our job was to deny the enemy the ability to have freedom of movement outside the wire," Beckno said, "and to interdict, deny and disrupt their ability to shoot rockets into FOB Shank."

That would be Forward Operating Base Shank in Logar Province, a nasty bit of land far, far removed from the Carrier Dome. It was there that Beckno and the soldiers under his command tended to the business of training Afghan security forces and killing those who were trying to kill them.

As some 250 107-milimeter rockets had been shot into FOB Shank the year before Beckno and his troops arrived and only three landed within the perimeter last month, business had been good. And after having returned to Fort Drum three weeks to the day earlier, the lieutenant colonel was willing to share.

But then, that was the whole idea behind the Syracuse University football team's four-day stay at Fort Drum, 168 square miles of U.S. Army base where the Orange practiced for their purported battles to come and listened to tales about real battles recently waged.

"This is not only a clinic for the players with offense, defense and their playbook stuff," said Beckno as those players scrimmaged before him. "It's became an opportunity for them to see and talk with soldiers. The really neat thing is that the ages of my soldiers and the ages of Coach (Scott) Shafer's players are the same. So there's an immediate generational connection.

"So, when you get an 18- or 19-year-old machine gunner telling his stories about what he did in Afghanistan — and these are stories about soldiers who've been killed or wounded, or about a soldier who stepped on an IED (improvised explosive device) and what was done about it — the players become completely captivated."

The SU athletes, back on campus and preparing for their season opener against Villanova 11 days from now, have been doing this for three summers now. They've been bivouacking, more or less, in the North Country and immersing themselves in the Army's way of doing things while at the same time chopping it up with the troops about the joys of football and other matters.

And it's been mutually advantageous. Shafer's guys learned again that life includes more than all those games circled on the autumn calendar; Beckno's guys were reminded that civilians, including even linebackers and such who might otherwise take their opportunities for granted, are so very grateful.

Last week, then, there were thank-you's all around the fort.

"This base benefits hugely from the generosity of Syracuse University," said Beckno, 43 and fit and forever faithful to the cause. "But we are the people's army. We have an obligation to stay connected with our nation and with our local community. It benefits the players, yes. But it benefits the soldiers, too.

"There has never been a thought like, 'Should we do this?' It's always been, 'Absolutely, we will do this.' This is a partnership that can go on forever, as far as I'm concerned. It's an honor for my soldiers to partner with these players. What a gift it is."

Now, you need to know this about LTC Brian T. Beckno: He's a 20-year Army man. He's been deployed five times. He's fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Kuwait and Iraq. He's carried dead soldiers and comforted wounded ones. He's planning to stay in uniform for as long as "my talents can be best used and optimized."

He is, in other words, one tough man. And he'll waver not at all on what he believes matters.

"The last two years, the Syracuse players came up here and then they went ahead and got wins in the Pinstripe Bowl and the Texas Bowl," Beckno said. "So I hope they keep coming back. This seems to be working for them. Because, you know, winning is important. Winning matters whether you're playing football or you're in my line of work."

Thus, those four days of mixing and matching and mingling — Orange with soldiers … soldiers with Orange. Thus, too, the offering made by Beckno to Shafer's bunch before it left for home and for that looming date with Villanova in the Dome.

"We flew a flag for the team in Afghanistan," Beckno said. "We flew a flag over FOB Shank. An American flag. And I presented it to them on Wednesday, full of dust. It was from us to them. I told them, 'We're all Americans here. Thanks for what you do by supporting our team. You've heard it before: These colors don't run. And they don't.' I think they liked that."

He spoke in the cold Fort Drum drizzle as that unfriendly wind blew, talking his military talk even as the Syracuse players scrimmaged before him. And LTC Brian T. Beckno seemed not uncomfortable at all.

(Bud Poliquin's columns/commentaries and other contributions can be found a couple of times a day, usually, Monday through Friday, usually, on syracuse.com. His work also regularly appears on the pages of The Post-Standard newspaper. Additionally, Poliquin can be heard weekday mornings between 10-12 on the "Bud & the Manchild" sports-talk radio show on The Score-1260.)